Aztharus
'' "Seems like all we've ever known is fighting. Killing for one side or the other. For something supposedly greater than ourselves. Seems to me the only greater purpose is what we have here, together. That is the highest calling of them all."'' --Aztharus, during the founding of Carrion Company as a mercenary outfit Description (WIP) Aztharus is a formidable looking man. He stands tall (6'4") and broad, an imposing figure even when not wearing his breastplate and plate spaulders. Aztharus has greasy, thick hair with small braids, usually held back in a ponytail for ease of sight in combat. Hints of gray, from age, death, or frost, pepper his brown hair and beard. His beard is wild and untrimmed, to hide his scars and disguise his undeath. His dark, unshining, dead eyes are sunken in a lean face with pronounced cheekbones. Background (WIP) 'The Killing Machine' Aztharus' tale as a Death Knight begins like every Death Knight risen by the Lich King. His dead eyes opened to see the face of Inspector Razuvious over him, flanked by two necromancers from the Cult of the Damned. He rolled off the pile of corpses, and began the Lich King's bidding. Simple. By the time the Battle for Light's Hope Chapel happened, Aztharus had been honed in to a machine of death. The doubts that had taken route during his training and the flashes of memories of his time as a Paladin before his death had barely slowed him down. Then he was free of the Lich King's grasp and agony wracked his body. Aztharus cursed Arthas and what Aztharus had been forced to do. Even worse, he cursed the ecstasy he had experienced while doing it. The memories of James Knowlan, the Paladin he had been in life, threatened to crush him. There was no going back, however. James Knowlan was dead. Aztharus repressed the memories once more, buried the agony behind a lust for battle, and joined the campaign in Northrend. [[Carrion Company|'Carrion Company']] Aztharus ventured with the Knights of the Ebon Blade to Northrend and was lent out to the Alliance military, as many Death Knights were. Not exactly comfortable with a blasphemous undead walking among them, Aztharus was placed in Carrion Company, a small regiment of misfits loosely in service to the Alliance whose tasks bordered on the suicidal and insane. They were expendable special forces. Within Carrion Company, Aztharus' agony and battlelust began to be tempered by another feeling: brotherhood. He met the likes of Lulu (Talullah Ianthe Galeballad), Thomas and Viktor Khrosz, and Eve (Evevilia). His past stayed buried, his purpose remained clear, and he fought among those who protected one another. Maybe it was the Lich King's power diminishing as the combined Alliance and Horde forces advanced in to Icecrown, or maybe it was something else, but Aztharus began to feel semblances of emotion again. In the end, Arthas' defeat on the spire of Icecrown Citadel released the last obstacle to Aztharus' emotional development. Homecoming Aztharus and the members of Carrion Company remained in Northrend after the fall of the Lich King to perform some clean up duties, so by the time they were allowed to return home to the Eastern Kingdoms, they had missed the celebrations. In fact, by then, whatever joy had been in the hearts of the Alliance citizens had been replaced by a distaste for the war and those who fought in it. The kingdoms were in debt, the citizens were poor, and civil unrest spread like wildfire. Instead of returning heroes, Carrion Company returned as warmongering villains and easy scapegoats for the poverty that gripped the land. The crown did nothing to ease the suffering of its citizens, nor did it do anything to provide for the soldiers who found themselves unwanted strangers in their own homes. Aztharus did the only thing he could think of. He organized the willing remnants of Carrion Company and turned them in to a mercenary crew. Mercenaries Aztharus, Lulu, Thomas, Victor, Eve, and a few others began to sell their services to the highest bidder. The war may have been over, but soldiers were still needed. Category:Human Category:Death Knights Category:Mercenary Category:Characters Category:Order of the Ebon Blade